Historically, sterile latex free medical strip bandages have incorporated a liquid absorbent pad comprising a non-stick cotton fabric, plastic or polymer fabric and/or silicon fabric covers wounds, a backing comprising paper, vinyl, cloth and/or plastic “sheer” flexible zinc oxide, with a skin adhesive such as a hypoallergenic acrylic adhesive for affixing the bandage to the patient's skin to hold the absorbent pad in proper position over the wound. Moreover, most major strip bandage manufacturers such as Band-Aid® use breathable porous or perforated flexible adhesive materials in their bandage strips. Breathable adhesive bandage strips provide greater comfort to patients by allowing airflow to the skin. Furthermore, conventional strip bandages may be waterproof and offered in a variety of different shapes and sizes depending upon the size and location of the wound on the patient's body. For example, depending upon the size and the location of the wound on the patient's body a strip bandage may be oblong, rectangular, round, triangular, square (etc.) in shape. Bandage sizes typically range from ⅝ in×2¼ in (1.5 cm×5.7 cm), ¾ in×3 in (1.9 cm×7.6 cm), 1 in×3 in (2.5 cm×7.6 cm), ⅝ in×2¼ in (1.5 cm×5.7 cm), ¾ in×3 in (1.9 cm×7.6 cm) for skin lesions and minor skin scraps on the body to 1½ in×3 in (3.8 cm×7.6 cm) and 1½ in×2 3/16 in (3.8 cm×5.5 cm) for skin lesions and minor skin scraps on the knuckles and fingertips. Conventional strip bandages have also been aesthetically improved by superimposing cartoon characters onto the bandages, making bandages glow in the dark, matching bandage colors to patient skin colors and by clear or “see through” bandage strip designs.
Regardless of modern medical strip bandage technology advancements, the problems associated with removing conventional adhesive strip bandages have not been solved and continue to be of paramount importance to the industry. This is because removing adhesive bandage strips is typically painful, particularly for children (pediatric) and the elderly (geriatric), and may cause body effacement by removing the patient's hair, and/or causing skin irritations, skin trauma and even skin lesions. According to one report by 3M, “1.5 million patients in U.S. health care facilities receive skin injuries caused by bandage removal each year.” Presently, doctors often advise patients to lay in warm bath water and wait for the water to loosen up strip bandages' adhesive properties prior to removal. Moreover, an entire strip bandage adhesive removal aftermarket product industry has developed around decreasing patient pain, body effacement, and skin damage such as Smith & Nephew's Uni-Solve Adhesive Remover. Nevertheless, such currently available aftermarket products are inconvenient and require the bandage wearer to separately purchase and apply an adhesive remover to a bandage affixed to the skin. One approach has been developed in which bandage backings are provided with rupturable pockets that include an adhesion reducing material. However this approach may preclude the use of breathable or otherwise permeable backings and can cause undesirable leakage.
As a result, a need has developed for a bandage that addresses the foregoing issues.
Like reference numerals refer to like parts in the figures.